Disappearing act on guns. And a preview of tomorrows nra news conference. And righties have their bogus war on christmas. Santa, if you will, i understand you dont like to say happy holidays. Why . Tonight, ill tell you about the real war on christmas and the people who stand to suffer for it. Good to have you with us tonight, folks. Thanks for watching. Tonight Washington Republicans are wasting our time. Republicans are supposed to vote on John Boehners infamous plan b at this hour. The house is in recess as Republican Leaders basically are scrambling to get all the votes. House Speaker John Boehner pushed for a vote on the bill even though it has no chance of surviving in the senate. It would be veet 0ed by the president if it did. Boehners plan b. It makes tax increases permanent for income above 1 million. Compared to the white house plan, basically, folks, its a joke. President obama proposed a 2. 5 trillion package. 1. 2 trillion would come from spending cuts. 1. 3 trillion would come from tax increases. Plan b only includes 1 trillion in tax revenue and the rest of course is unspecified. It also includes no deal on raising the debt ceiling. President obamas latest offer takes the debt ceiling off the table for the next two years, which i think most americans want. Boehner flat out lied to the American People today when he announced tonights vote. President obama and Senate Democrats havent done much of anything. Their plan b is just slowwalk us over the fiscal cliff. And for weeks the white house said that if i moved on rate that they would make substantial concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reforms. I did my part. Theyve done nothing. It is the height of dishonesty to say the president of the United States has done nothing. The president s opening offer, just for the record, was 1. 6 trillion in new revenue. Then he dropped it to 1. 4 trillion. After another counteroffer the president dropped it again down to 1. 2 trillion. This is exactly halfway between the president s first offer and Speaker Boehners first offer of 800 billion. On top of this the president changed his offer on taxes for incomes above 250,000, which of course was his signature vow of the president ial campaign. He replaced p with what . A tax increase over 400,000. Even a better break for middle classers and beyond. Plus a cost of living adjustment to Social Security benefits, which has got a lot of people on the left all riled up. The president s supporters not real thrilled about this deal. But boehner continues to lie about it. Frankly, im convinced that the president is unwilling to stand up to his own party. On the big issues that face our country. It is the other way around, folks. Speaker boehner got a good deal from the president , and he couldnt sell it to his own members. Boehner had to go crawling to some random person for help in selling plan b to the Republican Caucus. Boehner and Republican House leader eric cantor, well, they met with antitax lobbyists and chief driver of the truck Grover Norquist. Norquist gave his blessing to plan b, saying it would not violate his antitax pledge. Republicans have already passed a second part of the plan. It replaces the automatic defense spending cuts, which kick in at the end of the year. Instead of defense cuts, the republican plan cuts funding for what . Food stamps . Cant get enough of those poor folks serving it up, you know what i mean . And of course theyve got to go after health care. It eliminates the Child Tax Credit and ends Unemployment Benefits for millions of americans. Eric cantor is confident the entire plan b will pass. Do you think you have the votes to pass plan b, among republicans . Yes, were going to have the votes to pass both with tax, permanent tax relief bill as well as the spending reduction. Really . If cantor and boehner had the votes this afternoon, why did they wait for tonight to hold the vote . Or wait a minute. They havent had the vote yet. Theyre still counting heads. The Republican House leader spent the day trying to roind up the votes. Many republicans are still not on board. Congressman tim hustlecamp says hes a no. The trilliondollar tax hike, even in washington speak still is a tax hike. Its going to raise rates to exactly what nancy pelosi suggested in may. These obscure congressional members are giving Speaker Boehner all kinds of trouble. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn is also leaning toward a no vote. You know, i have to tell you, im in that lean no category because im one of those people that wants to see the spending cuts, and thats what my constituents are wanting to see. Conservative representatives dont want to go back to their districts with a vote for a tax increase on their records. That would kind of screw up their next campaign, you know . And of course they want to be more right than Grover Norquist. Senate majority leader harry reid doesnt understand why boehner is wasting his time with a vote that doesnt matter. Get back and Start Talking to the president. You have a multitrilliondollar deal theyve been talking about. Multitrilliondollar deal. Theyre a couple hundred billion dollars apart. This is absolutely senseless, that the speakers doing what hes doing. These are gyrations ive never seen before. Of course harry reids from vegas. He knows all about gyrations. Senator dick durbin says todays actions by republicans remind him of something else. Remember the closing scene in Thelma Louise . Rather than face the reality of what lies ahead, they hit the gas. Thats what were hearing from Speaker Boehner now. Hit the gas. And go over the cliff. The entire Republican Party is in this car right now, and they are flying off the side of the cliff. That cant be good. That was a commercial, too, wasnt it . A guy in the back of a truck. White house spokesman jay carney had a different movie in mind today. Republicans need a superhero to save them from this mess theyre in. The republicans in the house have decided to run down an alley that has no exit. What im confident of is that they dont have at the end of that alley a bat plane to fly out to their own rescue. Do you remember that scene . It was good. A good scene. Does the president have a batplane . I cant talk about that. Its classified. Joining me now is congressman Chris Van Hollen of maryland. Former dccc chairman. And i think he might be, knowing that this is a very serious time in american history, but there are moments of comedy coming out of the Republican Caucus tonight. Congressman, there is breaking news from the hill right now. There will be no vote on plan b. The speaker has pulled his own bill. Here is the statement his office has just released. The house did not take up the tax measure today because it did not have sufficient support from our members to pass. Now it is up to the president to work with senator reid on legislation and avert the fsical cliff. The house has already passed legislation to stop all of the january 1st tax rate increases and replace the sequester with responsible spending cuts that will begin to address our nations crippling debt. The senate must now act. Congressman, your reaction. What happened with john boehner today . I was going to say, ed, from the beginning of your introduction to just a few minutes ago we got at nounsmeth announcement that they were folding up shop for tonight and maybe qulorng because Speaker Boehner, having walked away from negotiations with the president and cooking up this plan b, which was never going to go anywhere in the senate, now is not going anywhere in the house because he cant even persuade his own members to pursue this option. The speaker should get back in the negotiations with the president. The president has met him more than halfway. And now its time for Speaker Boehner to either let the house vote on the proposal the president has put forward or give up the game. At this point if he cant persuade his own members to go for plan b, its time for him to let the American People speak. Theyve been very clear that they support the approach the president s taken. Congressman, you stay with us. Chris van hollen, were waiting to hear from majority leader eric cantor. And were going to go to him in just a moment. Congressman van hollen, how embarrassing is this for boehner . Hes in quicksand right now. Yeah, its very embarrassing for the speaker, and it demonstrates what many of us said all along, which is that he unfortunately cannot control his own Republican Caucus. The Republican Caucus in the house of representatives has become a very extreme group. Way out of the american mainstream. Captured by Tea Party Extremists so that even john boehner, the speaker, their leader, cant get them to support his proposal. And i should say, ed, his proposal would still give people earning over a Million Dollars a year a 50,000 tax break compared to the Senate Democratic tax bill. In other words, they get a 50,000 break at least compared to what happened if they went over the cliff or if we got the senate bill. And at the same time they were actually proposing to increase taxes on 25 million American Families by taking away some of the Tax Deductions for middleincome americans to send their kids to college and things like that. So it was a bad plan. But he couldnt even sell his bad plan to very extreme members of his own caucus. This moment i think is a hangover from 2010. These tea partiers have come in here, and they have bent the right wing they have bent the Republican Caucus so far to the right, i mean, they put cuts on the table that no one was even talking about tonight. They wont even raise taxes on people making above 1 million. I mean, what does that tell you how far it doesnt matter what president obama puts on the table. This wing of their party will not accept anything, it seems like, to get us to where we have to go. So congressman, does this officially make it a republican problem for us going over the cliff . Oh, theres no doubt about it. Even if they had passed plan b, as harry r50ed and others said, this was going to be a fast trip over the cliff. What should the democrats do now, congressman . Whats the next play here . Well, we need to call on the speaker to bring up the plan thats been proposed by the president. Its a balanced plan, as you well know. There are lots of things in that plan that i dont like and lots of democrats dont look. I still have reservations about them. Wed have to fix parts of it. But at the very least lets bring up that plan, put it to a vote. Thats true democracy. If the speaker really wants to allow the process to work, lets have a true democracy, a true majority vote in the house of representatives, and then we could pass a true balanced plan, the kind of compromise plan that the president has put forward. You said earlier today on msnbc that you think that boehner is stringing this out because hes concerned about his position as speaker of the house. Has he lost control of his caucus tonight . Well, clearly he has. And it reinforces the point that i did make earlier today, which is a concern im sure he has that if he were to allow the house to have an up or down vote, lets allow a majority in this house to work its will on a proposal thats put forth by the president after certain negotiations, preliminary negotiations with the speaker, that theres a very real risk that he would lose his speakership. I suspected all along he may be dragging this out. January 3rd, which is when he is up for his election in the house for speaker. And i would hope he would put the country over the politics of the Republican House caucus. Because what we are seeing tonight is they are a really extreme group. Theyre willing to drive the country off the cliff. And its really a sad day for the country and the overall process. So if you just joined us, breaking news tonight. The speaker of the house does not have enough votes. They have canceled the vote on plan b. Chris van hollen joining us here on the ed show. Congressman, when you look at what the president did, he put Social Security on the table. This is of course what the republicans have wanted all along. They have wanted took after the big three. And they didnt even go after that offer. Change cpi. They didnt even go down that road. What does that tell you about republicans . I mean, weve seen all this obstruction over in the senate. Weve seen obstruction and the failure to bring up bills on jobs that the president wants in the house. And now tonight they couldnt even get their own caucus together. Weve had 34 months of private sector job growth. The countrys running without republicans right now. Fair statement . Its running without republicans. But the problem is that we need republicans to help us avoid going over the fiscal cliff, which would be a huge increase on middleincome americans, which would definitely hurt the economy. Have you ever seen anything like this . So what theyre doing, theyre holding the entire country hostage as we speak. Weve got 11 days to go before we go over the cliff. And as one of your earlier guests said, theyre just putting their foot on the accelerator. The cut bill that they brought up today, ed, was a reflection of priorities because while they still are trying to put a tax bill on the floor that provides a 50,000 average tax break to people making over a Million Dollars compared to the senate bill, they called today for cuts that would cut 300,000 kids from the School Nutrition programs and reduce nutrition and food programs for 22 million americans with families. I reminded my colleague, paul ryan, the chairman of the budget committee, of the comment that his running mate made during the election about the 47 , when mitt romney said, you know, the 47 of america was not mitt romneys problem. And what they did today in the house in terms of their cut bill was to make good on mitt romneys promise, that they dont care about that 47 . Quickly, i have to ask you this. Eric cantor could not deliver the right wing tonight for john boehner or did he purposely not do it . Oh, i dont know whats going on in the Republican Caucus. As far as i could tell, eric cantor was working with the speaker to try to round up the votes. And frankly, its a reflection on the inability of the entire house leadership to congress the far right of their party to prevent us from going over the cliff that brings us to the point where we are right now. Congressman Chris Van Hollen, great to have you with us. Thank you so much. We are await k a statement from majority leader eric cantor and i would assume we might hear something within the hour from the white house. Share your thoughts with us on twitter and on facebook. We want to know what you think. Democratic leader nancy pelosi calls John Boehners bill the bills to nowhere. Boy, was she right. Boehner didnt have the votes. What will the democratic strategy be now . Congressman Elijah Cummings and John Garamendi will be with us. Were coming right back. Id have nothing to prove [ male announcer ] zales is the diamond store. Save 25 percent off an amazing selection storewide, now through monday. I dont have to leave my desk and get up and go to the post office anymore. [ male announcer ] with stamps. Com you can print real u. S. Postage for all your letters and packages. I have exactly the amount of postage i need, the instant i need it. Can you print only stamps . No. First class. Priority mail. Certified. International. And the mail man picks it up. I dont leave the shop anymore. [ male announcer ] get a 4 week trial plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale. Go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Coming up next on the ed show, ill ask congressman Elijah Cummings and John Garamendi how the democrats proceed after tonights disaster for republicans. Plus, all the political fallout with Steve Ben Nan and michael tamaski. And well hear from eric cantor next np share your thoughts with us on facebook and on twitter using the hashtag edshow. Were coming right back. Im b. So now i can be in the scene. Advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. Unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an antiinflammatory and a longacting bronchodilator working together to help improve your lung function all day. Advair wont replace fastacting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. People with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. Advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking advair. If youre still having difficulty breathing, ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. Get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd. Com. Welcome back to the ed show. Thanks for joining us tonight. Speaker john boehner didnt have the votes for his own plan b this evening. Boehner was desperately trying to save face wi